A community leader, Thomas Acheneje, has called on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Kogi State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to assist displaced persons of Agojeju-Odo community in Omala Local Government Area of the state with relief materials.
Acheneje made the call while speaking to journalists in Lokoja.
Agojeju-Odo community in Omala Local Government Area was on April 4 attacked by bandits, leaving 25 dead and several others injured.
The bandits sacked the entire inhabitants of the community who are now taking refuge in neighbouring communities.
Acheneje said that since April 4, the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have been encountering untold hardships due to lack of food, potable water and conducive places to stay.
“Our people are living in terrible conditions, which is why as a community leader, pleading with NEMA and SEMA to consider it necessary and expedient to take some relief materials to them.
“Most of the IDPs are taking refuge in primary schools, mosques and churches with little or nothing to cater for themselves.
“The painful thing is that the bandits carted away their foodstuffs, such as maize, yams, cassava and beans,” Acheneje said.
The community leader expressed worry over likely disease outbreak in some of the crowded IDP camps and houses.
He added: “As members of the affected community, we have been trying our best to assist our people, but the situation has overwhelmed us.”
Acheneje commended Governor Usman Ododo’s revelation recently that some suspected bandits had been arrested.
He called for the establishment of a military base at Agojeju-Odo, a border community between Benue and Kogi states, to checkmate the incessant attacks in the area.
Responding, the state Commissioner for Environment, Mr Segun Joseph, said the government has planned to send relief materials through SEMA to the affected communities in Omala Local Government Area.
“We are aware of the plight of the displaced persons in Agojeju-Odo and Abejukolo communities and will, by God’s grace, reach out to them with some relief materials.
“Governor Usman Ododo-led administration is a caring one and won’t abandon its citizens for no just cause,” Joseph assured.
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